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Ice accretion on external aircraft surfaces due to the impact of supercooled water droplets can negatively affect the aerodynamic performance and increases fuel consumption and reduces operational capability. To prevent it, different approaches to develop anti-icing and de-icing surfaces able to delay ice nucleation and to easily remove it respectively, have been explored in the recent years. All these approaches can be classified into two major categories: active and passive approaches. In the latter case, creating an anti-icing surface is mainly achieved by changing surface morphology and chemistry to regulate the interaction between water/ice and the cold surface. Superhydrophobicity is postulated as a key surface property to prevent the condensation of water droplets on the surface and thus, delaying ice formation. In this research, novel research progress on the correlation between superhydrophobic properties of hierarchical patterns on aluminum created by ultrashort laser pulses and the reduction of ice-adhesion is reported. Three different Hierarchical Structures (HSs) were fabricated by direct laser texturing with femtosecond pulses. Wettability performance of HSs was evaluated over the time to assess their wettability transition from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic. Based on that, specific storage conditions on organic atmosphere were defined to guarantee reliable superhydrophobic performance several hours after manufacturing. The functional behavior of three HSs generated on 40×80 aluminum plates were assessed by a climate chamber able to simulate freezing weather. Differences in terms of amount of ice growth and mechanism of ice nucleation were found for the studied HSs surfaces. Additionally, several icing and de-icing cycles were performed to evaluate the wear of HSs on wettability properties and anti-icing behavior of the aluminum substrates.
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